No. 1 Blue Devils Draw, 3-3, with No. 7 Irish in ACC Action

Thursday, October 24

Durham, N.C.

7 p.m.

Duke University

12-1-1, 7-0-1

Notre Dame

10-1-4, 4-0-4

Notre Dame

Duke

Photo by: Duke Athletics

No. 1 Blue Devils Draw, 3-3, with No. 7 Irish in ACC Action

10/24/2024 10:51:00 PM | Women's Soccer

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DURHAM, N.C. – In a match-up of two of the top offensive and defensive teams in the nation, the offense got the better of the two on Thursday as top-ranked Duke and seventh-ranked Notre Dame battled to a 3-3 draw in ACC play inside Koskinen Stadium.

Both teams had allowed a combined 13 goals entering the match and gave up a season-high three each on the night. Duke moved to 12-1-1 overall and 7-0-1 in the ACC, while Notre Dame is now 10-1-4, 4-0-4.

The Blue Devils took a 1-0 lead in the first half, but the Irish responded with three straight goals to go ahead, 3-1, but Duke stormed back in the second half to even the score, 3-3. Leah Freeman came up big for the Blue Devils once again with five saves in goal over 90 minutes.

How It Happened

Notre Dame opened the match on the attack and featured a pair of scoring chances, but Duke goalkeeper Leah Freeman came up big with two saves in the first three minutes.
Fifth year senior Ella Hase registered the Blue Devils' first shot attempt of the contest at the 7:55 mark that went high.
The Blue Devils took the next three shots off the leg of Hase, Mia Oliaro and Devin Lynch, which two were saved.
Duke then struck first at the 22:40 mark as Maggie Graham found Farrah Walters inside the box.Walters, who hails from Scottsdale, Ariz., drove towards the endline and crossed the ball in front of the goal that was redirected by Irish keeper Sonoma Kasica and Hase was there to finish in the back of the net to give Duke a 1-0 lead.
Notre Dame came right back with two goals in less than two minutes by Izzy Engle to take a 2-1 lead in the 28th minute.
In the 33rd minute Graham got loose from the Irish defense and tried to sneak a shot past Notre Dame's keeper, but Kasica used her right leg to make the save.
At the end of the first half, Duke held an 11-6 shot advantage with Hase and Graham leading the way with three each.
Notre Dame came out of the locker room and quickly added another goal on the board as Annabelle Chukwu blasted a left-footed attempt into the bottom right corner from just outside the box at the 46:33 mark.
The Blue Devils etched back closer in the 52nd minute as junior Devin Lynch rocketed a right-footed shot from 29 yards that hit the back right corner to cut the Notre Dame lead to 3-2.
Duke wasted no time evening the match at the 54:36 mark as Lynch found Oliaro on the right side of the box, who then beat her defender to the endline and crossed the ball over the goalkeeper's head to a wide-open Mia Minestrella, who finished easily to even the score, 3-3.
With 28 minutes remaining in the match, Duke defender Nicky Chico was accessed a red card and the Blue Devils were forced to play the rest of the match with 10 players.
Duke nearly added a fourth in the 71st minute as Hannah Bebar placed a beautiful corner kick to the head of Cameron Roller that went off the crossbar.Graham grabbed the rebound and her shot was saved by Kasica.
The Irish were awarded a penalty kick at the 78:49 mark, but Leah Klenke's attempt went wide right of the post to keep the score even, 3-3.
Notre Dame's Charlie Codd had a couple of attempts late, but Freeman came up big once again with back-to-back saves with less than three minutes remaining.
For the match, Duke held a 22-16 shot advantage with 11 shots in both halves.

Notes

Duke trailed in the first half for only the third time this season (Ohio State and California). The Blue Devils also trailed at the half for only the third time this year.
The two goals allowed in the first half were a season high for the Blue Devils.
Ella Hase totaled her third goal of the season and her first inside Koskinen Stadium. She now owns 17 career goals.
Mia Minestrella totaled her eighth goal of the season, all which have come off the bench. She has now scored in three straight contests.
Mia Oliaro has assisted in seven consecutive matches and owns a team-high 10 assists on the year.
Oliaro assisted Minestrella for the fifth time this season.
Devin Lynch posted her sixth goal of the year and ninth assist. She has scored or assisted in nine out of the last 10 contests.
Duke had allowed only six goals all season and gave up three in the match, while Notre Dame had allowed seven goals prior to Thursday.
Notre Dame had not allowed more than two goals all season in a match this season.
The 16 shots by Notre Dame tied for the most allowed for the Blue Devils this season, while the 22 shots by Duke was a season high allowed by the Irish.

Quotes

"The game had a little bit of everything. It was two really good teams battling out, playing hard, [with] chances. I knew coming in this game, I told people that it could be a 4-3 game today. Both teams lead the league in goals allowed and all sudden six goals go on the board. Because it's two really dynamic offenses.If you made a mistake, or you just didn't get tight enough, or you didn't mark somebody, then they punished us with it.I was really impressed with our ladies in the second half. I thought we came out, unfortunately went down, the girl scored a nice third goal for them. But then we didn't drop our heads, our mentality, we picked our game up. We started to play a little bit quicker and started attacking the ball, the goal with numbers, good services from the flank area and good runs in the box. I'm still very, very proud playing a team like this, one of the top teams in the country, with 10 players. And we created a couple of opportunities with 10 players. So, it's not acceptable to go down 3-1 with it, but we've got to take accountability. We have to clean that up before we go to Wake Forest. But I love our mentality and I love our mindset." – Duke head coach Robbie Church

Next Match

Duke hits the road for yet another top 10 matchup on Sunday, Oct. 27 at No. 2 Wake Forest at 6 p.m., live on ACC Network Extra.The match will be played at Spry Stadium in Winston-Salem.

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